Seven Against Thebes

Aeschylus

Aeschylus, Volume 1. Smyth, Herbert Weir, translator. London; New York: William Heinemann; G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1922.

  1. his helmet’s mane, while from under his shield, bells forged of bronze therein ring out a fearsome clang. He has this haughty symbol on his shield: a well-crafted sky, ablaze with stars, and the brightness of the full moon shining in the center of the shield,
  2. the moon that is the most revered of the stars, the eye of night. Raving so in his arrogant armor, he shouts beside the river-bank, craving battle, like some charger that fiercely champs at the bit as he waits in eagerness for the trumpet’s war-cry.
  3. Whom will you send against him? Who will be capable of standing as our champion at the Proetid gate when its bars are loosened?
Eteocles
  1. I would not tremble before any mere ornaments on a man. Nor can signs and symbols wound and kill—crests and bell have no bite without the spear.